Victor Politi on Dec. 18, 2013. Politi, who has served as Nassau County’s acting police commissioner and is a former Nassau police surgeon, will oversee Nassau University Medical Center and other facilities that serve the poor as chief executive of the Nassau Health Care Corp.
Photo Credit: Howard Schnapp

Victor Politi on Dec. 18, 2013. Politi, who has served as Nassau County’s acting police commissioner and is a former Nassau police surgeon, will oversee Nassau University Medical Center and other facilities that serve the poor as chief executive of the Nassau Health Care Corp.
(Credit: Howard Schnapp)

Dr. Victor Politi, Nassau's acting police commissioner, was named Wednesday to run the financially struggling NuHealth, which serves the county's most vulnerable patients.

Politi, 56, who has worked as a doctor in the emergency department at Nassau University Medical Center -- part of NuHealth -- is replacing Arthur Gianelli, who was ousted in November by Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano.

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Dr. Victor Politi, Nassau's acting police commissioner, was named Wednesday to run the financially struggling NuHealth, which serves the county's most vulnerable patients.

Politi, 56, who has worked as a doctor in the emergency department at Nassau University Medical Center -- part of NuHealth -- is replacing Arthur Gianelli, who was ousted in November by Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano.

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To replace Politi, Mangano named First Deputy Commissioner Thomas Krumpter as acting police commissioner, Mangano spokesman Brian Nevin said. He said the search for a police commissioner continues.

In a statement Wednesday, the board that oversees NuHealth, also known as the Nassau Health Care Corp., said Politi's "multi-faceted background makes him the perfect candidate to bring NHCC out of its financial struggles and into a profitable institution."

Politi, a Bellmore resident for 15 years, will start work Monday "for transition purposes," and will officially take over Feb. 8, according to NuHealth spokeswoman Shelley Lotenberg.

Politi has been serving as interim police commissioner since early December after Commissioner Thomas Dale was fired when prosecutors found he ordered police officers to arrest a witness in a politically charged case. Before that, Politi was deputy county executive for public safety for two years, where, among his duties, he had oversight of the health department and medical examiner's office.

"There is much work to do at NuHealth and I look forward to partnering with the board, medical and nursing staff, and hospital workers," Politi said in a statement. "In the coming days, I will ask the board to approve a thorough, forensic audit so that we can begin to better address the hospital's struggling finances."

Gianelli was appointed to NuHealth, a public benefit corporation, in 2006 by then-Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, a Democrat, who lost a bid for the office Nov. 5 to Mangano, a Republican. Two days later, Gianelli was asked to resign.

disappointment. "I hoped this so-called 'nationwide search' would produce a candidate who has both a health care and financial management background," he said. "Unfortunately, I am not surprised that it concluded with a person who once worked six doors down from Mangano."

Politi graduated in 1990 from St. George's University School of Medicine in Grenada, finishing medical school while in the New York Police Department. He served in the NYPD 15 years.

He completed residencies in occupational and internal medicine at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and is board certified in internal medicine. He worked part-time at NUMC until he was named deputy county executive and was the director of emergency medicine of St. John's Queens Hospital.